Glaukas — Drawn from sea and skillGlaukas
The Sailmaker
Mercantile
Sailmaker · Learn to Sail

Beginner’s Sailing Guide

Enough of the wind, the rig, and the words to get you off the dock and back again — set down plainly, in the order you meet them.

I — The points of sail

A boat cannot sail straight at the wind — but it can sail across it, and even somewhat toward it. Where you point relative to the wind is your point of sail, and it decides how you trim the sail.

WINDNO-GOClose-hauledClose-hauledBeam reachBeam reachBroad reachBroad reachRunning
Fig. — the wind blows down; you sail everywhere but the shaded wedge

In irons — the no-go zone

Head-to-wind the sails just flog and give no drive. Bear away until they fill.

0°–45° off the wind

Close-hauled

As close to the wind as the boat will sail, sheets hauled in hard.

≈ 45°

Close reach

Sheets eased a little from close-hauled — quick and comfortable.

45°–90°

Beam reach

Wind square on the side. Usually the fastest, easiest point of sail.

≈ 90°

Broad reach

Wind over the quarter, sheets well out.

≈ 135°

Running

Wind astern, sail squared off. Watch for an accidental gybe.

≈ 180°
II — The parts of the rig

Before the words make sense, the shapes have to. The sail is a wing bent to spars — a yard above, a boom below — hoisted up the mast by a halyard and trimmed by a sheet. Standing rigging holds the mast up; running rigging moves the sail. The fastest way to learn them is to take one apart with your eyes.

III — First words aboard

A small vocabulary carries most of a first day on the water.

Port · starboard
Left · right as you face the bow. Port is red, starboard is green.
Bow · stern
The front · the back of the boat.
Windward · leeward
The side the wind hits · the sheltered side away from the wind.
Tack
To turn the bow through the wind so it crosses to the other side. Also: the side the wind is on — port or starboard tack.
Gybe
To turn the stern through the wind — faster and rougher than a tack. Control the boom.
Luff up · bear away
Steer toward the wind · steer away from it.
Halyard · sheet
The line that hoists a sail · the line that trims its angle to the wind.
Heel
The boat leaning under the press of wind. Sit to windward to balance it.
IV — Your first sail
  1. 01

    Read the wind and sky first. Rig the boat pointing head-to-wind so the sails cannot fill early.

  2. 02

    Buoyancy aid on. Know where the mainsheet, tiller, and centerboard are before you leave the dock.

  3. 03

    Push off and bear away onto a beam reach — the most forgiving point of sail.

  4. 04

    Steer small and smooth. Push the tiller toward the trouble to turn away from it.

  5. 05

    When in doubt, let it out: ease the mainsheet until the sail just stops flapping.

  6. 06

    To turn around, tack: “ready about” … “lee-oh”, and change sides as the bow passes through the wind.

On land, we forge, make, and mend. Once the tide takes us, only skill remains.